Monday, October 18, 2004

ROCK'N'ROLL FAMILY SLIDESHOW

I want to stick to current releases, so I'd better review this one quick - it's already a year old. But you gots to know this one: The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. They collect old family slides from estate sales in their Seattle 'hood, and write songs inspired by the slides, which are projected as they play. They are a family - Mr T sings lead, plays instruments, Mrs designs the costumes and clicks the slide projector, daughter (8 years old when I saw 'em last year) plays drums, sings backup. "Vintage Slide Collections," their debut on Bar None Records (They Might Be Giants' old label, which should tell you something) is chock full o' wonderfully catchy quirky pop tunes like "Mountain Trip to Japan, 1959," "Eggs," and a really odd suite of songs based on slides from a McDonalds corporate convention. The CD comes with a booklet of photos of the slides so you can follow along with the music. Supposedly, you can pop the CD into your computer and get the slideshow that way too, but that stuff never works on my crap PC. Yes, you're not getting the full effect by just listening to the music, but the rousing closer "Believing in You" stands on it's own. A nerd-rock classic.